#36 Relaxation Hypnosis for Stress, Anxiety & Panic Attacks (Jason newland)

Hello and welcome to jasonnewland.com. This is relaxation, what is it? Relaxation and hypnosis for stress, anxiety and panic attacks. I think that's the name of the podcast, I think it is.

It's something like that. I really should pay more attention to the things I've devoted my life to. It's just I've got quite a few podcasts.

But that's the gist of it. It's basically, this is aimed at helping those of you, I'm going to say those of us because I'm included in this category of people who have been affected very, very, very much so by stress, anxiety and panic attacks. My name is Jason Newland.

And please only listen to this when you can safely close your eyes, which is the same for all of my recordings. And I would also advise if you ever listen to any recordings, podcasts or anything like that, that have hypnosis or that have sort of relaxation, then make sure it's safe. I know it's not really my job to be the warning for other podcasts, but just it's important, you know, safety, your safety is got to be number one.

It's got to be the priority. You know, so if you're piloting a helicopter, then don't listen to stuff like this. It's kind of an obvious thing.

But it seems obvious, but I don't know. I don't know. By the way, that's my creaky chair.

My big black squeaky chair is very squeaky. I need a new chair. And I don't mind this chair because it's fairly comfortable.

But it's worn out. And it's creaky. And because I make lots of recordings, you know, sometimes two, three a day, sometimes it'd be nice to have something that didn't squeal every time I moved.

So there you go. So this is kind of a mixture of things. It's a mixture of things.

So hypnosis doesn't have to be you lying there with your eyes closed asleep. Because technically hypnosis has got nothing to do with sleep. But hypnosis is relaxing, which can lead to sleep.

And I do a lot of sleep hypnosis recordings, and I've got quite a few podcasts, which guide you to that point, you know, where you're just completely zapped and zonked out. And I've been doing that for a long, long time. So these recordings may have that effect on you.

And some of the relaxation techniques may also have that effect as well. Because when you relax your body, your mind relaxes. And when you relax your mind, your body relaxes.

And it's like a continuous perpetual, is it perpetual motion, just continues. And it grows, the calmness, the sense of safety increases. And those levels of stress, anxiety that may have been there before, decrease.

Now, I'll also just talk, sometimes. I'll just talk about things connected to this subject. And some may think, what's that got to do with hypnosis? Well, really, I'm not here to give an electron hypnosis.

Although I could, but it would be very boring. And it might also be wrong. So I might not do it justice.

But for me, hypnosis is very basically focusing on an idea, you know, wrapping your mind around an idea. And so you don't have to be unconscious in order to benefit from words, which is evident. I'm sure in your life, as well as mine, there's been times when I've been wide awake and I've heard something, whether it be a friend has said it, maybe I've heard it on the television, on a radio, maybe even in a song.

Maybe just overheard it on the bus. And something stuck with me. And, you know, there was once years ago when someone gave me a postcard, or like a card, not a greetings card, but it was just a kind of a general cardy card, I don't know what you want to call it.

But it had on the inside, or it might be on the outside, I forget. It was you can either be right, or you can be happy. So you can, you can choose to be right, or you can choose to be happy.

And it kind of, it hit me. It's like, okay, I didn't, I didn't kind of get it. I got it, but I didn't, I started thinking about it.

It started to grow, you know, the idea, my mind started to wrap around that idea. I started to think about examples in my life where I really needed to be right. To the exclusion of perhaps friendship, especially to the exclusion of my own happiness.

And I've experienced other people who were unable to back down from something that they believed they were right about. And seeing the suffering that they've gone through because of it. So just that simple idea, really, my mind really wrapped itself around that idea.

And it's stuck with me. It doesn't mean that I don't want to be right. But it's opened up a choice, it's made me realize that it is a choice.

Whether or not I pursue that need to be right. And let's face it, no one ever wins an argument. Because when people argue, even if the argument ends with both of them agreeing, you know, Bob agrees with Steve, that Steve was right.

Bob's still not going to be happy at the end of it. So Steve hasn't really won. So it's that idea of wrapping your mind around something.

So what I do is I try and offer ideas. A bit like how I did when I did my Hypnotic Buffet podcast. Except this is going to be focused solely on helping with stress, anxiety, and panic attacks.

And I've been thinking about that because I had a conversation with a friend, was two people talking to each other, my friend and his friend. And they were discussing the difference between anxiety attacks and panic attacks. One said that he has anxiety attacks.

And the other one said, don't you mean panic attacks? He said, no, they're anxiety attacks. And I think, I don't know, but I think what was going on there is the person said that he had anxiety attacks, didn't like the connotation of the word panic. The idea of panicking and being scared.

So he kind of gravitated to the word anxiety attack, because it fitted more with his sense of toughness or his sense of who he feels he is. When they brought me into the conversation, I said, it's just two different terms for the same thing. So it was a bit of a, Which didn't, wasn't enjoyed by either.

Because they're neither were able to be right, or they both felt they were right. It's a bit of a, a topic here, isn't it? Being right? But I knew I was right, so it's okay. From my own experience, when I had panic attacks, which is what I called them, I didn't feel anxious beforehand, when they just started popping up out of nowhere.

And I did panic, because I didn't know what it was. And then when they became more frequent, I really got anxious about when the next one was going to happen and, you know, what is this, is this something wrong with my brain, you know, that's how I was thinking at the time. So although I was quite stressed in the job I had, I felt good, you know, I wasn't stressed as in dreading going to work or, you know, any of that stuff, I was actually excelling in my work.

So when I had the first full-blown proper attack, or they gave us the word attack, it's like somebody else is attacking us. And then we think, no, it's not someone else, it's us. And that feels even worse, like we're attacking ourselves.

That's just disgusting behaviour, why would we attack ourselves, that's self-harm. So it's those things that I kind of struggled with, because it didn't make sense to me, didn't make sense. And the word panic really fits in with what happened when I had them, because I ended up going to the hospital at least three times thinking that I was having a heart attack, but I wasn't.

And then, because it's generally late at night, I was there, but there was other people there as well, and I got sore pretty much straight away, because pains in the chest get seen quickly. Plus I was 32 the first time I went, so I wasn't middle-aged, but I was not young, young. If I'd have been 19 or 20, they perhaps wouldn't have took so much notice, but it might have been the beard, I don't know.

But then when I had the tests and the check gave me a, tested my heart and blood pressure and all that stuff, and everything came back absolutely fine. I felt guilty, and the first time, I started, you know when you talk and you start crying, but I didn't cry, I kind of kept it in, because I was so frustrated. I didn't want anything to be wrong with me, but at the same time, I didn't want to be wasting the time of the doctors, but then a doctor says, that's what we're there for.

But in my mind, I didn't deserve to be there, because I wasn't ill. But then I didn't realise that it was an illness. Anxiety is an illness, it's a mental illness, which presents itself mentally and physically.

So it's basically, it's a physical, it's just an illness. Very debilitating for a lot of people, when untreated. And by untreated, I mean, when the person who's going through this, is not getting any help, or not doing something to help themselves.

And some people can't face doing that stuff, they don't know where to go. There's going to be some people that would never listen to this, ever, in a million years, because they don't believe that listening to some weird man on a podcast would be of any use. And you know what? I probably fit into that category, myself, a little bit, back then.

A little bit. I was a lot more open-minded towards hypnosis, because I already knew hypnosis. But I really struggled to help myself.

Which was very unusual, I didn't understand that. Because I'd used self-hypnosis for stopping smoking, I used it for lots of different things over the years. And then to suddenly have this, and I felt like I'd lost control of my brain, of my mind.

And you may think, why am I telling you all this stuff? Why don't I just get on with it? Why don't you do your magic, trance-y hypnosis stuff? Well, this is part of that. I mean, for one thing, those listening, this might be the first time you've listened to this, first time you've listened to me, first time you've ever listened to any audio recording podcast. Regarding anxiety, panic, stress, those kinds of things.

And this might be the first time that you've heard somebody say something that you could perhaps relate to. To hear me talk about something that I've clearly been through. I say clearly, I mean, unless I'm lying, but trust me, I've got better things to do than make recordings about stuff I don't know about.

Like this. This, you know, I've got lots of stuff on Netflix I could watch. There's a lot on Netflix, there's so much.

But just having somebody tell a little bit about this story. So instead of me saying, I know what it feels like for you, I don't know what it feels like for you. You don't know what it feels like for me.

We all experience things differently. But there are going to be similarities. Maybe in the reaction.

Maybe in some of the situations, like going to the hospital. Maybe, you know, things like thinking that I was losing my mind. Perhaps a lot of people felt that way during an anxiety episode.

And I dealt with this for years. It wasn't something that I just went away straight away. Because there was no help.

There was books, and I did read them all. Well, I read quite a few of them. And some of them were useful.

But I suppose I was trying to find a way to make something that I didn't understand, understandable. By reading about it. I mean, my doctor first diagnosed me with panic disorder.

Or anxiety disorder, maybe both. And then I was diagnosed with PTSD, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Due to previous things that happened when I was young.

And then diagnosed with stress disorder. I think repetitive stress disorder. I'm sure he was just making it up sometimes.

Let's put a bunch of words together now. Repetitive, panic, stress, disorder, PTSD, underlying. I needed help.

I needed something more than antidepressants. And the antidepressants maybe took the edge off. Thing is, I wasn't feeling depressed at the time.

When it first started. I was feeling happy. Well, fairly happy, quite up.

But then as I got older, I was diagnosed with bipolar. And there's a kind of a manic stage. Not manic-manic, because I don't get that high.

Mine's more bipolar 2, but it's bipolar affective disorder. But the mania gets to a level where I'm feeling good. Like really, really good.

I could watch ants play on the grass and feel really excited about it. And feel good about the world and everything. But then it hits a barrier.

And that barrier then turns into a mania, a mild mania. Which ultimately becomes anxiety, like a real panic attack, basically. So I've generally got that under control.

And learnt that it's just a bunch of feelings. And you will survive it. But at the same time, it is horrible.

There's no point lying. It's like saying, oh it's okay, you'll now not be bothered by it. Well, I think it's natural to be bothered by it.

Because there's no reason to have extreme anxiety. Once you've had it, then it's something to look to reduce. Not something that you need to accept.

Not something that's going to be there forever, because it won't. And even the breathing part of it. The thing that would normally, I would say, most people are unaware of their breathing.

Unless you kind of run for a bus, or it's particularly hot or particularly cold outside. Or maybe meditation, maybe focusing on your breath. But it's just a natural process.

But you know, with the panic, the breathing can become more obvious. And more awareness of that. Which then puts too much focus on the breathing.

Which you can then lead to hyperventilating, or a very kind of feeling of dizzy head and stuff. But you know what? There are millions of people out there, in the world, that have lung conditions. Like asthma, probably the biggest one.

But other things as well, where someone would just need to take an inhaler, maybe need oxygen. But they learn to live their life. And accustomize themselves to that breathing patterns that they have.

So the breathing may be shallower. So, maybe initially, when they had their first asthma attack, or asthma problem, they might have gone into a panic, had a panic attack. Which would be natural if, you know, not being able to breathe is the worst thing possible.

But then when you know you can breathe, and you know that you will breathe, which is what people with asthma and other lung conditions learn quite quickly, that actually, they can breathe. And they will continue to breathe. And the fact is, we do it.

From the very second we are born, to the last second of our life, we breathe. It's the last thing to go. So it's the most natural thing.

And it's about having trust in our bodies, in our lungs, in the whole process of breathing. To trust, even if the lung capacity has reduced somewhat, due to illness, or also due to age. The lung capacity of someone, I think my lung capacity, compared to what I was when I was 18, is possibly a third less.

Like just statistically, just naturally, I'm nearly, I'm 49 nearly. The lung capacity reduces with age. That's okay.

That's just life, that's fine. The body adapts. Our minds don't think about it, because our minds don't have to.

Just like you don't have to concentrate on the blood circulating around your body. You don't have to concentrate on your liver doing its job, or your kidneys. You don't have to concentrate on your toenails growing.

They do it naturally. There's no conscious effort. It's the same with breathing.

We can't have no choice but to breathe. I mean, you know, try to hold your breath. See what happens.

Eventually, you'll have to breathe. Because your body will force it. You can hold your mouth and your nose with your own hands, but eventually your brain will force your hands to let go of your nose, and move away from your mouth, so that you can breathe.

We have this safety mechanism built in to us. But sometimes we consciously have forgotten that. That safety.

The ability to breathe, the ability to relax, the ability to just see things through, just to allow whatever changes that are occurring, to occur. Just like with a broken bone. It hurts.

It's supposed to hurt. You know, it hurts for a reason. And then it stops hurting gradually, over time.

You don't have to do anything. Just make sure you don't put any pressure on it. Give it space and time to heal.

And it does it on its own. And in a way, that's what happens with anxiety and stress. If we get out of the way, consciously get out of the way, and put some trust in ourselves, put some trust in that part of our body, that part of our mind, that keeps everything running.

Keeps the blood flowing, keeps the oxygen, you know, pumping through the blood, to the different parts of the body, keeps the healing process going. Keeps the healing process going. Repairing the different parts.

Keeps the hairs growing. Keeps the food digesting. And then evacuating out.

I love that word, evacuating, but, you know, the whole process is natural and automatic, as is the process of relaxing, and releasing stress, reducing anxiety. But in the same way, if you've got a broken arm, you don't do press-ups. You don't go to the gym and lift weights with a broken arm.

It's in plaster, or in a cast, and needs to be rested for six weeks, or however long. In the same way, if somebody's got, having anxiety attacks, it means maybe some lifestyle changes are necessary. Maybe treat your body and mind the same way as you would if it was a broken body, a broken bone.

On some sides, not taking it too seriously, but on another side, taking it more seriously. In the sense of, it's a medical condition, it's an illness. And you need time to heal and to recover.

And that might also involve learning new strategies to deal with whatever may have caused the anxiety or stress. But then you may not be aware of what it is. You don't need to necessarily be aware of what caused it, as long as you're aware that it's occurring.

And that hypersensitivity that kind of comes with the anxiety disorder, that hypersensitivity is something that can be reduced to a point where, perhaps, there's a part of you that kind of doesn't care as much about whether it occurs or not. You know those days when, I remember every day was occupied by, will I have an anxiety attack, or won't I, will I be in public, or won't I, what will I do?

Eventually, I had periods where I didn't care. I had periods when I thought, you know what, this thing's bullying me.

This thing is pushing me around and dictating to me what I should do and controlling my life. I stopped doing things that I enjoyed doing for fear of those feelings. Things that may occur and then realizing, you know what, perhaps, perhaps it's time to not give control to a feeling.

Maybe it's time to take back that control but without being controlling. You know, allowing yourself to feel tired if you feel tired. Allowing yourself to feel angry if you feel angry.

Allowing yourself to feel a bit stressed if you feel a bit stressed. Not trying to hold the feelings in, holding it all together. I mean, it's just, it's basically just a balloon ready to pop.

A balloon can only hold so much air, can only pump so much air into it before it gives way. But you know what, if you make a small little pinprick in the balloon, tiny little prick, maybe a few, but it's a tiny little prick with a pin and you pump air into it continuously. But not high pressure, but just continuously.

The air will have a release. There will be a little release valve, you could call it. So as human beings, living in the world we live in, there's stimuli, visual, things we hear, things we see, emotions that we experience.

And that's being pumped into this balloon. And the balloon gets big. And if there's no release, eventually it will pop.

But if you've got that release valve, that little, you know, that little hole somewhere in the balloon, so the balloon can never get full, can never get too big, it's always got that little relief which then calms your mind and calms how you feel. Changes the way that you respond to things. Because that former hypersensitivity to outside stimuli as well as your own thoughts and feelings can never build up to be too pressurised.

Because it's always, always got that release valve. Which means then there's no blockages, there's no roadblocks, there's no stuckness that maybe there felt like there was before. But now, obstacles have been removed.

And no matter what goes into that balloon, everything will eventually be released through that small hole as new air is pumped into it. So those mixture of feelings, those images from the news, those conversations that maybe didn't go so well, all releases through that small hole in the side of the balloon. So that the pressure never builds.

So the blockage is unblocked. And it just makes it easier. It's like if you're driving on a motorway.

And sometimes you can go the whole journey without having to stop at all. The traffic just keeps going. No breakdowns.

Nothing. No traffic jams. No gridlock.

No roadworks. It's just smooth and continuous. And relaxing.

And that's what this turns into. Because once you've got that release valve, it takes away those roadblocks in our head. Those moments that build into something more than they need to be.

An anxiety level that's way higher than is necessary. Which means there's less chance of overreaction. Less chance of being concerned about something that may not happen.

And more chance of feeling a sense of increased comfort within your own self. I mean literally within yourself. Having that calmness and sense of safety.

And belief that actually from now on things will be different for you. Things will be different. And will change.

And you can and will deal with things that come your way. And may actually be really surprised how easily you are able to manage and deal with certain aspects of your life that maybe in the past you found very difficult to believe how easy it is now looking forward. Because let's face it, we use the term to look forward to something.

We look forward to something that's pleasant. We look forward to something that's going to be good. We look forward to something that's going to be maybe useful, helpful, healthy.

We look forward to something that may be healing, engaging. We look forward to something that may be transforming or may be leading and helping you build towards the kind of life that you deserve for yourself. So to look forward is a very positive statement.

To look forward to something. It also means to look forward. Literally, you're looking forward.

You're seeing future possibilities in your mind. You're seeing a future. And because it's in your mind, you get to choose what your future is going to be.

Regardless of what happens, you get to choose in your mind what your imagination chooses. So if you're going to go and buy a car, a Ferrari, in five or ten years time, you get to choose what colour that car's going to be in your mind. Because it's your mind.

You can choose the colour. You can choose the type of car. Because that's your imagination.

And our imagination is so powerful and so influential upon us and our behaviours and our thinking and feeling and emotions. So as you look forward towards tomorrow, with your imagination which is yours, that's your canvas. It's a blank canvas which you can paint anything on regardless of your artistic abilities.

You can make any picture of the future that you want for yourself to feel more relaxed and calm is something that you can imagine. Because that is looking forward. And the power of your mind, the power of your imagination to deeply affect the outcome of the future that you're looking to is incredible.

Just how easy you can just let go of old thoughts, unhelpful feelings and beliefs that were getting in the way of you feeling more relaxed, calm. You know, ultimately, don't you deserve to be happy? Don't you deserve to feel more relaxed? Don't you deserve to enjoy more peace of mind? Don't you deserve to be able to look forward to the future that you want for yourself? The future that you have designed in your imagination.

And the more vividly you imagine feeling completely relaxed at those times when feeling relaxed and calm both mentally and physically can only be an advantage to you.

It's more likely to happen once you wrap your mind around that idea that from now on you will enjoy more of a sense of calmness and relaxation in your mind and your body more more relaxation in your mind and your body which gives you something to look forward to a future of comfort, calmness and the ability to enjoy being happy.

Now that is the end of this recording and I shall make another one very soon so I suppose if you like what I do I'd advise subscribing whatever podcast you're listening on, whatever podcast player or host and if you subscribe and then no doubt they'll inform you when a new one is uploaded but there will be another one very soon so I wish you happiness and hopefully you'll give yourself a chance just to let your mind wrap around some of these ideas so that you can feel more relaxed within yourself and remember you're a human being and you deserve you really deserve to be happy take care and I shall speak to you very soon bye